World Youth Day Sydney 2008
Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to Sydney
Forty young people from the Archdiocese of Liverpool have travelled to Sydney to celebrate World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI. They will be attending the biggest youth event in the world which will draw the largest number of international visitors to Australia for a single event and is expected to create the biggest gathering of people in the country’s history. The World Youth Day Pilgrimage takes place in Sydney from Tuesday 15 July until Sunday 23 July with the highlight being the visit of Pope Benedict XVI who arrives on Thursday 17 July and who will celebrate the closing Mass on Sunday 20 July which half a million young people are expected to attend at Randwick Racecourse.
Last week Liverpool’s pilgrims will took part in voluntary community projects in the area of Maitland and Newcastle, a little over 100 miles north of Sydney. Staying Singleton they worked on parish projects, attended a social justice event and a diocesan gathering with 10,000 other young pilgrims from across the world. They also planted an olive tree, the first in a new grove being created by the civic authorities.
Travelling with Animate Youth Ministries each young person has had to raise approximately £2,000 for the trip and fundraising has taken many forms including a sponsored bike ride to Lourdes (the Marian Shrine in the South of France); barn dances; raffles; selling World Youth Day pens on market stalls; table and baking fairs; race nights; and Australian themed costume parties. Generous donations from individuals, parishes and Catholic organisations have also gone towards the trip.
You can follow the young people on their pilgrimage by clicking here
From the Archbishop's Desk
August 2008
On the first Sunday of August I will be celebrating Mass at the church of the Ascension, Beavercreek, near Dayton, Ohio. I will be once more benefiting from the gracious and generous hospitality of my cousin, Michael, his wife, Janet, and their family to recharge my batteries, typically on the flat side at this time of the year. At Mass I will try to be sensitive to these days in the United States. Credit crunch, debt, soaring prices for fuel and food are affecting countless lives there as they are here. The word of God appointed for this Sunday does not offer obvious comfort to troubled, fearful families. It seems to offer a fool’s rose-tinted view of a world where there is corn and the water of life at no price. The Lord Jesus with a few small loaves feeds thousands; but he does not seem to be multiplying cheap food to meet needs today. But that word does proclaim: all the resources we need, personally, as families, as a diocese to accomplish what God wants are ours. Of course, what God wants us to accomplish might not match our ambitions. But that is why I dare to pray that these troubled days for countries like ours and the United States, still far wealthier in food, comfort, healing, education, than billions find, will see us review our priorities; working out what we really need; discovering in what sort of ambition our hearts will find rest and satisfaction. The shadows affecting so many at this time may well open minds and hearts to a truly secure, totally realistic and joyful future.
27.07.08 Pastoral Letter Sunday 27 July 2008.mp3 (mp3)
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